Arctic front coming to visit

Northern Michigan's 2006-07 winter got off to a mild start, but the National Weather Service predicts below-normal temperatures - the coldest so far this season - to be the rule in the next few days.

Petoskey's temperature is expected to reach the mid 20s today, Friday, but only the teens on Saturday. After an overnight dip below zero, Sunday's high is expected to be in the single digits.

"We have a lot of cold air locked up over the Arctic circle," said Monique Runyan, a meteorologist at the NWS office in Gaylord. "It's just kind of spilling south over the Great Lakes."

Highs in the positive single digits and nightly lows in the single digits below zero are expected Monday and Tuesday as well, Runyan said, before temperatures likely climb to the teens on Wednesday.

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The cold air mass spilling into the Great Lakes is the coldest in a decade, the NWS' Jim Keysor notes.

The wind chill will bring a feeling of temperatures well below zero in the coming days, the NWS noted, and lake effect snow will be possible in some areas.

The area's average high temperatures for this point in the winter are in the mid 20s.

For Traverse City - the closest point to Petoskey for which the NWS has detailed historic data - the record low temperatures for Feb. 4 and 5 are -21 and -27, respectively.

With cloud cover expected to be in place for much of the next several days, Runyan said temperatures aren't likely to descend to that range. But "if the skies clear out on a very cold night when there's new snowpack, all bets are off."

Wind chill risks

The National Weather Service expects wind chills will be well below zero around Northern Michigan in the coming days. According to a winter preparedness guide by the U.S. government and the American Red Cross, a wind chill of -20 will cause frostbite within 30 minutes. Frostbite brings a loss of feeling and a white or pale appearance in the body's extremities, such as toes, fingers, ear lobes or the tip of the nose. If such symptoms are present, medical help should be sought immediately. If you must wait for help, slowly warm the affected areas.

If hypothermia symptoms - like uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness or apparent exhaustion - are present, warming efforts should be focused on the body core before the extremities.